Do I need a license to sell food from home in California?

So in this video of cottage foods laws, we're gonna dive into that specific question and give you some feedback and understanding on what two types of licenses you can actually get in California. We're gonna get to that right now. All right, so welcome back to cottage foods laws. This channel is dedicated to the home based food entrepreneur. If you are looking to create a home based food business, and this is your first video on our channel, definitely hit the subscribe button and check out all of our great content. We have a ton of content for every state under the cottage food laws and giving you also additional resources from package development, design and everything else in between. So let's get right to it. Now, cottage food laws in California are pretty unique because they have two types of licenses or permits you can actually choose from. We're gonna go over specifically what those two are and the sales limits for each one and how much does it actually cost and what other things you need to get done in order to get your food business started. Now, definitely check out the other resources, by the way, really quick below the video in the description section, we'll have additional resources to our other YouTube channels.

Do I need a license to sell food from home in California?

We have a ton of YouTube food entrepreneur channels here on YouTube. So number one, you've got Class A CFO license. Now, CFOs, the cottage food laws for the Class A can sell their products directly in person and online. They can also ship their products and use a third party delivery service, something similar to Postmates or any other type of delivery service they'd like, but it has to within the state. You have to also make sure that the product that you're making is on the approved product list. This means that it cannot be anything potentially hazardous. Those would be items that are like time or temperature sensitive. You can't produce those type under the law or under the licensing of the Class A in California.

Do I need a license to sell food from home in California?

Now, that would be things such as, as an example, like pizzas or hamburgers or hot dogs. Those types of things would be considered potentially hazardous because they have to be consumed in a certain period of time and they may have to be kept at a certain temperature in order for them to not have any bacteria or anything that would develop or could hinder the product quality and make it something that cannot be eaten. So, now next up is Class B. You do have a Class B license through the cottage food law in California. In addition to that, you actually could choose a Class B, which also could sell their products indirectly through stores, restaurants, and even wholesale. Now, the Class B permit is a little more pricier and that one actually requires you do get a home inspection under the Class B one. Now, that's something you need to be aware of because they'll have to come to your home and check it out and see and make sure that you are following guidelines set up in order for you to produce the product.

Do I need a license to sell food from home in California?

Now, how much can you sell under these two different licenses? So you gotta understand that under cottage food laws, every state can actually either limit or unlimited sales annually through those types of permits and licenses. Now, the Class A license in California has a sales limit of $75,000 a year. So that actually means that in your home, you can produce obviously pre-approved items under the cottage food law up to $75,000. Class B licenses, now this one's a little different and as we mentioned before is much more flexible, but it is a little more costly to get this license and permit. That can sell up to $150,000 a year in California from your home, which is actually a substantial amount of money. So the Class A and Class B are the types of licenses you would need in order to sell homemade food from your home. Now, keep in mind too, as we mentioned, the term homemade foods has to be something that could be on the list specifically. It can't be things like you would find at a restaurant or a cafe or something like a food truck. Those types of food products would be potentially hazardous food items. Now, I wanted to go over really quick. All right, so in regards to the license and the permits, you need to also understand before you can actually get going, you'll need to choose, obviously, the Class B or Class A registration for the local environmental health department.

Do I need a license to sell food from home in California?

Now, you need to keep in mind the costs for this and remember that it's an annual registration every year, so it's something you have to renew. So if you're looking to figure out, do you need a license to sell homemade food in the state of California? You definitely do, but you do have choices, you have options, whichever one of those two would best fit what you are looking to do. I preferably would say go with the Class B because that gives you a lot more flexibility and it gives you a lot more money that you could make it a year. So if you have questions about the license and permitting for homemade food sales in California, let us know down below. If you have brand new to our channel, double check our other resources and check out these videos here for even more information. And we'll see you guys in our next video

Do I need a license to sell food from home in California?